


Hercules' Day Off

by Exdraghunt



Series: TUGS [2]
Category: TUGS (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-28
Updated: 2013-11-28
Packaged: 2018-01-02 20:47:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1061452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exdraghunt/pseuds/Exdraghunt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a rare day off for Hercules and Lillie, so the two decide to hit the town. Part 2 of TUGS series</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hercules' Day Off

As an ocean-going tug, Hercules spent very little time in the harbor and could be gone for days, and even weeks at a time. He had received one such long-haul order a week and a half previous, taking a sailing schooner up north and towing a float of logs back south to Bigg City. It was the middle of the night when Hercules finally steamed into port, having dropped off the float of logs and finally completed the contract.  
The light of Lillie Lightship guided him in through the dark, though the lovely lady herself was asleep. The port was silent, that rare few hours when the buildings were dark and the ships at dock all sleeping. Hercules expertly guided himself into the Star dock and shut off his engine, tying off at his usual moorage. Captain Star, rather than being at his normal place inside his office, was out on the dock to meet the tired tugboat.

Over a week at sea had taken its toll on the calm tug. His glasses were smudged, body dirtied by the coal exhaust from his smokestack, and lines that were normally kept neatly coiled instead lay in heaps. Still, Hercules managed a smile and a greeting. “Captain Star, good evening.”

“Good to see you, Hercules. Welcome back,” Captain Star reached out to give the ocean tug a pat on the bow. “You’ve done a good job. I want you to have tomorrow off. Rest well.”

“Thank you, m’dear,” Hercules let his eyes drift closed, and was soon deep asleep. It was the first chance to rest he’d had in several days.

The next morning, the tugs of the Star fleet awoke with the sunrise precisely at 0600, just as always. Cold boilers were fired up and the tugboats idly chatted as they built up steam pressure to start the day. They were a bit surprised, though, to see Hercules tied up at the end of the dock still asleep. Normally, the ocean tug was gone before they awoke and didn’t return until after sun down.

“Good morning Star Fleet,” Captain Star gave his usual morning greeting through his megaphone.

The tugs chorused back with scattered good mornings, still building their steam pressure up to start the day. Ten Cents drifted a bit closer to Hercules and tried to nudge the big tug awake, knowing how much Captain Star hated it when his tugs overslept.

“Leave him Ten Cents!” Captain Star called, “Hercules has the day off today. Unlike you lot, so listen up!”

There was scattered muttering and grumbles as the other Star tugs settled in for their assignments for the day. Days off were very rare, tug work being a job that needed to be done every day of the week. Typically, the only time off a tugboat received was if they were at Lucky’s Yard to have work done. They couldn’t complain too much though, Hercules worked the longest and hardest hours of them all, and no one had ever heard the ocean tug complain about it. He deserved a day off.

Hercules awoke several hours later, around noon, to find the Star Dock empty. The ocean tug sat calmly and debated whether to fire off his boiler or go talk a walk around town, watching the activity of the harbor bustle around him. A steam whistle sounded fairly close by and his eyes widened in surprise. Every ship carried a unique whistle, and an experienced ship could tell exactly who was coming into or leaving port just by the sound. This was one he didn’t hear very often, Lillie’s whistle. Out at sea, she normally used her foghorn.

A few seconds later, he saw Lillie steaming slowly past the dock, heading for Lucky’s yard. “Ah, Lillie m’dear. What are you doing in port?”

“Oh, hi Hercules,” She slowed down and smiled, “I didn’t realize you were back. It’s my annual maintenance day. What are you doing here?”

“Captain Star has given me the day off.” He had a sudden idea. This was a perfect time to keep his promise to Lillie, it was very rare for the two of them to be in port at the same time, “How about after you get to dry dock, you walk over here to the Star dock and we take a walk around town? I did promise to give you a tour.”

“That sounds splendid,” Though she had served as Bigg City’s lightship for almost 10 years, Lillie had still never seen the town itself.

With that settled, Hercules transferred to his human form and started to do some cleanup. He scrubbed his deck and wheelhouse, then made sure all his lines were neatly flaked and coiled to be used again. A good hose off took care of the soot and coal smudges, leaving him looking as clean as the day he was launched.

He had just finished cleaning when Lillie came walking down the dock, looking a bit nervous in her human form. She almost never used the illusion since she rarely interacted with humans.

“Lillie, m’dear, you look lovely,” Hercules stepped down onto the dock and took her arm, “Shall we go see the town?”

“You do know how to charm a girl,” Lillie giggled and leaned on him as they walked up the dock, “I just hope I don’t look too drab. I’m not sure what the human girls wear nowadays.”

Hercules raised an eyebrow skeptically. Lillie’s human form wore a bright red skirt and white sailor blouse with red trim, a reflection of her true body’s colors. She was anything but drab, “You look perfect, sweetheart.”

As they left the waterfront and headed for the heart of the city, Hercules came upon a small problem. He didn’t spend much time in port either and the only thing he really did in the city was go to the movie theatres, which wasn’t an option at the moment because he didn’t have any money. Fortunately, he did know someone who was familiar with human past times.

“What are we doing here?” Lillie looked up at the sign that read “Bartell Drugstore.”

“We are meeting a friend of mine who should just be getting off work.” Hercules stepped inside the store and found a familiar face working at the counter, “Ah, Lucy, I was hoping you would be here.”

“Oh, Hercules!” The young woman closed the till and stepped out from behind the counter, “I didn’t know you were in port today. And who is this?”

“This is Lillie Lightship. She’s never seen the town before, and I could think of no one better to show her around.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Lucy held out a hand, which Lillie shook awkwardly after a moment’s hesitation.

“You too, darling. Hercules has said so much about you.” Lillie smiled warmly.

“Oh, nothing bad I hope,” Lucy laughed.

“I would never,” Hercules stated, mock offended.

The other two laughed. They knew, of course, that Hercules almost never said a bad word about anyone. (Except the Z-stacks)

“Well, let me punch out and change out of my work clothes, then I can certainly take you around the town.” Lucy walked back into the store room, leaving the two ships standing in the middle of the drugstore.

“I never imagined humans had so many different kinds of fuel,” Lillie commented after a moment, looking around the store in wonder.

“Yes, I guess they’re quite fond of their different kinds of food.” Hercules didn’t quite get it either. Lucy had said it had to do with taste, then attempted to explain what taste was, but it hadn’t really helped. Taking  
on coal and water really wasn’t anything like the human practice of eating and drinking.

“Okay, are you guys ready to go?” Lucy walked out of the back room in her street clothes, purse in hand. “What are you staring at?”

“You humans have a lot of different kinds of fuel,” Lillie shrugged and set down the tin of peanuts she had been examining, “Anyway, where will we be going?”

Lucy would always be amused by how fascinated they were by food. It did make sense, since they didn’t eat, but it was still funny. “Well, Hercules and I usually go see films, but we have several hours until the late show, so we have some time to kill.” What would it be the most entertaining to show a pair of living ships who almost never saw humans. “Have you guys ever been to a museum before? There’s a natural history museum and a local history museum right near here. And I think an art museum, too.”

The two ships looked at each other and shrugged. History could be interesting. Especially if there was a maritime exhibit.

They walked through the streets, Lillie looking around at all the huge, tall buildings with awe. The skyscrapers didn’t seem nearly so tall from out on the sea, but here they towered over the small humans running about.

There were people everywhere, all shapes and sizes wearing clothing in a rainbow of colors. Though, to the ships who were used to other boats in an amazing array of sizes and models, the humans all looked very similar.

The museum was an impressive, old Carnegie building with intricate carvings across the door frame. It was a level of indulgence the working ships had only ever seen on the largest of the cross-atlantic liners.

Inside the museum, they were greeted by the massive mounted skeletons of long-extinct beasts. Both boats craned their necks to look up at the far away head of a Tyrannosaurus rex.

“Wow,” Lillie knew very little about land animals, and was very impressed by its size, “I didn’t realize land animals could be so large. Are there any live ones around here?”

“No, no,” Lucy laughed, “They’ve been extinct for several million years. All we have left are their skeletons.”

“And I’m quite glad for that,” Hercules quipped, “That’s a fellow I’d hate to meet down a dark inlet.”

They slowly wandered through the natural history portion of the museum, looking at the fossils and taxidermy mounts of extant animals. There was also a portion on marine animals, which the two ships were much more interested in. An enormous whale skeleton hung from the ceiling, the small group standing under it and looking up in awe.

“You know, I had a whale surface nearly right under me once,” Hercules commented, “Had a schooner in tow, quite nearly turned turtle.”

“Does that sort of thing happen often?” Lucy asked curiously, “I mean, wildlife encounters out on the sea?”

“Fairly often, yes. Dolphins like to frolic in my wake, and I usually get to watch the whales during their migration.” Hands in his pockets, Hercules looked around at the dioramas of sea creatures, “Grampus would love this, I bet. Ships like us don’t see under the waves.”

“Remind me to take you swimming sometime,” Lucy muttered as they moved on towards the modern history wing.

“Um, Lucy. What is this?” Lillie was standing in front of a piece of modern art, head tilted.

“I have no idea.” Lucy replied, tilting her head the other way. Nope, still didn’t make sense, “I think it’s art.”

“… . Ah,” Hercules didn’t even try to understand it, preferring to look at some of the Egyptian artifacts on display. It boggled the mind to realize how far back human culture extended. Steam engines, and therefor  
living ships, were a fairly recent technology only a couple hundred years old. The first tugboat had been built only 50 years before. He wondered what the future would look like.

“Do humans really preserve their dead like this?” Lillie was looking over a sarcophagus and reading about mummies.

“Well, they used to.” This was an odd turn of conversation. Lucy tried to explain in a way that didn’t feel too macabre, “Nowadays, most people get buried. We put their bodies in coffins, bury them in cemeteries.”

“That’s so odd. Can’t any part of them be re-used?” The idea of just burying the dead was an odd idea to Lillie. Though it might seem morbid to humans, the ships were used to the idea of their dead being broken up at the breaker’s yard to have their parts reused for future ships. Good wood went to new hulls, and working engines put into new ships. Even bad engines could have their brass fittings and metal melted down for new things.

“Uh, no. You can’t really reuse human parts.”

Even Lucy was greatly interested in the photos of Bigg City when it was first founded, almost 100 years before. Back then, the city was nothing but a haphazard collection of muddy shacks with huge sailing ships moored out in the harbor. The waterfront then was a long stretch of thick mud and marshy weeds.

For comparison were photos of the city as it looked now, taken as an aerial view. The city looked so small from above, the skyscrapers of downtown nothing compared to the ocean and cliff sides that bordered the city.

“Oh, look, there’s me,” Lillie pointed at Dender rocks, where her bright red hull was clearly visible against the blue sea.

“And there’s me, hauling a cargo barge,” Hercules pointed out his own yellow and red deck, taking a barge in past the estuary. The other Stars and even the Zeros could also be seen, little dark spots against the water.

“Humans are so small. It’s amazing the way they’ve achieved so much.” Lillie brushed her fingers against the photo before moving on.  
They could do a lot of harm, too, but that was better left undiscussed.

Having been thoroughly entertained, Lucy led them out of the museum and tried to think of where they could go next. What little money they had left between them was being saved for the movies, so places like the zoo or the art museum weren’t an option. Instead, Lucy turned towards the local department store. Trying on clothes was always fun, even if you couldn’t afford them, and she had always wanted to see Hercules in something besides his scruffy sailor’s outfit.

“Oh, oh, Lillie, you should try this one,” Lucy held out a lovely long sequined evening dress. It was a bit sheer and bright red, which really was a good color for the lightship.

“Well, alright,” Lillie held up the dress, looking at it carefully, then closed her eyes and concentrated. The outfit currently on her body shimmered, then vanished and was replaced by an exact copy of the dress.

Well, that was a useful talent. Would save her a lot of money in clothing. Lucy nodded. The dress looked beautiful on her, but there was just one thing, “The hat has to go.” She reached forward and snatched Lillie’s white hat off her head, revealing the ship’s dark curls.

Lucy startled a bit when the hat vanished in her hands, but she recovered quickly, “There, perfect.”

“Oh,” Lillie patted down her black hair self-consciously. The hat a ship wore was an important part of their identity, and it felt weird to not have it.

“I agree, you look wonderful m’dear.” Hercules walked up, having found a very nice day suit in dark grey. The vest was fitted perfectly, and it was fun to see him in straight-legged pants instead of his sailor pants.  
In fact, it was incredibly hot, but Lucy pushed that thought away. Instead, she reached forward and snatched off his hat as well. The tattered white and blue cap ruined the entire look. “There, much better.”

Hercules frowned. He was extremely fond of his hat. Of course, in this body it wasn’t real and he could always put it back with a thought. He’d leave it off for now, though.

“The glasses don’t really go well either,” Lucy said with a frown, looking at his amber-tinted oversized round glasses.

“I’m afraid these have to stay, darling,” Hercules put a hand to his glasses protectively, “I can’t see a thing without them. Necessity trumps fashion.”

Darn. Next time, perhaps. “Okay, but I expect both of you to stay in these outfits for the movie tonight.”

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Lillie swayed slightly, letting the sheer fabric swish against her legs. “And you do look quite dapper, Hercules. Like the men who ride on the big ocean steamers.”

Speaking of the movies. Lucy checked her watch, “Okay, we’ve got fifteen minutes to get to the movie theatre. Let’s go!”

Rather than walking, the group managed to catch a jitney bus passing by. Hercules and Lillie quickly discovered that riding in the wheeled human motor vehicles was a very unpleasant experience. It was generally assumed that living ships couldn’t get nauseous, but this human driver who kept swerving in and out of traffic lanes was quickly proving that idea incorrect.

“Okay, that is something I never want to do again,” Hercules normally disliked being on solid, unmoving ground but right now it was a blessing.

“Agreed. That was worse than our last winter storm,” Lillie straightened out her dress and patted down her curly hair.

“Oh come on, there was no way that was worse than being out on the sea in those waves.” Lucy had been out with Hercules one evening when they had been hit with some heavy wake and she had quite nearly hurled. Only the thought that she would’ve been puking on his -body- stopped her.

The other two shot her incredulous looks and stepped up to the ticket booth to get their tickets. Tonight the big name picture on the marquee was the new Lon Chaney film, The Phantom of the Opera. Lucy knew the gist of the story, having read some of the novel a few years back, and hoped that it would be entertaining enough for her friends even without any boats in it.

One nice thing about going to see movies with a pair of living ships was that she didn’t have to share the popcorn or soda. Lucy took great enjoyment in purchasing a large bucket with the knowledge she would have it all to herself.

The movie was on its second week, so the theatre was only about half full. The small group took a seat right near the front, just off from the middle. Lillie was nearly vibrating with excitement, she had never seen a film before though she had heard quite a bit about them from Hercules when he visited.

Lillie was not disappointed. The music was provided by the theatre’s excellent organ player, and the scenery was just astounding. They were quickly drawn into the story by the lovely Mary Philben, and sat on the edge of their seats when she was lured away by the masked phantom.

The entire theatre screamed when the Phantom’s mask was ripped off, a few women even fainting in their seats. It was astounding how much a man could change his face with some makeup. Lucy gripped Hercules’ arm tight at the sudden reveal, shutting her eyes tightly. At yet, despite his hideous appearance, she still felt sorry for the Phantom by the end of the film. To be so unloved and isolated from human touch that a simple kiss to the forehead could cause him to come completely undone.

“That was really quite good,” Lillie commented as they made their way out of the theatre, having sat and waiting for the crowd to clear out. Being in large crowds made both ships nervous, having a number of other ships in very close quarters usually wasn’t a good thing out at sea. “Though, I’m not sure what happened at the end. If he let her go, then why did he try to kidnap her and escape?”

“I read they changed the ending just before it came to theatres,” Lucy vaguely remembered the ending from the book, which had been quite different. “Originally, the Phantom dies of a broken heart at his organ.”

“Oh, how horrible,” Lillie shook her head, “Why do humans write about such sad things? I thought films were supposed to be entertaining?”

“There are lots of comedy films, darling,” Hercules put an arm around her shoulder, “But I guess sometimes we need reminding of the sadness in the world too.”

“Well,” Lucy yawned and stretched. She had been up all day at work, and she was getting tired. “This was a lovely afternoon and evening, you too, but it’s about time for me to go to bed.”

“Thank you for showing us around, sweetheart,” Hercules gave Lucy a hug and popped his hat back into existence on his head, just so he could tip it, “I’ll see you next time I’m in port. Lillie, shall I escort you back out to your station?”

“That would be lovely, Hercules. And thank you for the wonderful afternoon, dear,” Lillie wasn’t too sure about the human habit of physical affection and settled for giving Lucy a smile instead.  
With a shimmer of light, the two were suddenly gone. Lucy sighed. Her life had taken a definate turn for the weird since she moved to Bigg City.


End file.
